Bannister carries Olympic torch on fabled track

By BARBARA SURK | July 10, 2012 | 6:40 PM EDT

In this image provided by the Olympic Organizing Committee LOCOG, showing Sir Roger Bannister holding the Olympic Flame on the running track at Iffley Road Stadium in Oxford, England, Tuesday July 10, 2012. Bannister was the first person to ever to run a sub four-minute-mile, on May 6, 1954, at this track in Oxford. Bannister returned to the site of his greatest sporting achievement, to participate in the Olympic Torch relay as the Olympic flame is carried around the country to the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games. (AP Photo / Gareth Fuller, LOCOG)

OXFORD, England (AP) — Roger Bannister returned to the track where he broke the 4-minute barrier for the mile 58 years ago, walking slowly but smiling broadly as he carried the Olympic torch across the finish line Tuesday just 17 days before the start of the London Games.

The 83-year-old Bannister walked 30 yards along the track, holding the Olympic torch aloft in his left hand as hundreds cheered for a man who is an embodiment of sporting achievement in Britain.

"In a way, I'm back in the sport that I belong to," he said. "I spent 10 years training before I broke the 4-minute mile."

Bannister — who shattered an ankle in a car accident in 1975 and didn't run again — put his walking cane aside and leaned on a young man to descend three stairs from the podium where the Olympic torch was lit to start the day's relay.

He walked down the track before handing the torch to an Oxford doctoral student Nicola Byrom, who ran a full lap wearing the white torchbearer uniform.

Bannister declined to wear the uniform, fueling speculation that the Oxford-educated neurologist may put on the outfit to light the cauldron at the opening ceremony in London on July 27.

Bannister is among those considered a candidate to light the cauldron.

He refused to speculate, saying he was fully focused on Tuesday's torch relay event.

Bannister said he felt "right at home" on the track where he ran the mile in 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds on May 6, 1954. The Iffley Road track is now called the Roger Bannister track.

"It's an honor to be included in a list of torch carriers, which has included injured soldiers back from Afghanistan and other places," Bannister said.

The strong winds on a chilly, rainy Tuesday reminded him of that historic day when "the weather was so bad that I nearly decided not to attempt it."

"In retrospect, I'm glad because if I hadn't attempted it that day I might not have had another chance," Bannister said.

Also in attendance Tuesday was Sebastian Coe, the former two-time Olympic 1,500-meter gold medalist and mile record-holder who chairs the organizing committee for the London Games.

He called Bannister one of Britain's "national treasures of sport."

"Breaking the four-minute mile as a mark of athletic achievement is central in the history of our sport," Coe said. "He paved the way for what we did in the late '70s and early '80s."

Despite attending eight Olympics — one as an athlete and seven as a spectator — Bannister never won an Olympic medal. He finished fourth in the 1,500 meters at the 1952 Helsinki Games.

Had Bannister won the Olympic gold in Helsinki, he probably would have retired and the first sub-4-minute mile would have been achieved by someone else. Instead, he competed for another two years and attacked the mile landmark.

Australia's John Landy and American Wes Santee ran times of 4:02, and it was a question of who would get there first.

Bannister scheduled his attempt for May 6, 1954, during a meet between Oxford University and the Amateur Athletic Union. The weather was miserable — rainy, cool and windy. He only decided to make the attempt when he saw the English flag from a neighboring church start to flutter more gently as the race time approached.

He was paced by English runners Chris Brasher and Chris Chataway. Brasher ran the first lap in 58 seconds and the first half-mile in 1:58. Chataway moved to the front and took them through three laps in 3:01. Bannister had to run the final lap in 59 seconds and did.

The record didn't stand for long. Six weeks later, Landy ran 3:57.9 in Turku, Finland.

Bannister settled the score with Landy in August 1954 at the Empire Games, now called the Commonwealth Games, in Vancouver in what was dubbed the "Mile of the Century" or the "Miracle Mile." Bannister won in 3:58.8, with Landy second in 3:59.

The current record stands at 3:43.13, held by Morocco's Hicham El Guerrouj since 1999.

Bannister had a distinguished 40-year medical career since retiring after the 1954 Empire Games. He was knighted in 1975.

He was among number of sporting celebrities carrying the Olympic flame on Tuesday. At Henley-on-Thames, five-time Olympic rowing gold medalist Steve Redgrave carried the torch in his left and an oar in his right as he helped steer a boat to the Leander rowing club.

"To have my hands on the torch is pretty special," he said.

It may not be the last time. Redgrave is the British bookmakers' favorite to light the cauldron at the opening ceremony.

The flame stops included the Royal Ascot race course, where Italian jockey Frankie Dettori climbed aboard the retired Monsignor to carry the torch around the parade ring.

Dettori was initially forced to jump off the horse after the 18-year-old gelding appeared unnerved by the huge noise from spectators and later by the sight of the flame.

But after calming Monsignor, the Italian jockey rode the horse with the torch in his hand before jumping off again in his trademark leaping dismount.

"It is an honor and a privilege to be invited to carry the Olympic flame, especially at a track that holds such happy memories for me," Dettori said. "I've been round this paddock thousands of times, I've seen the queen here at Royal Ascot, but I've never seen a reception like it."